Just Roll With It
by AriaBelles
Summary: WARNING: Age of Ultron SPOILERS! If you don't want anything to be spoiled stop reading. Natasha manages to finally track Bruce. After some convincing on Natasha's part they decide that they're just going to roll with whatever happens between them. Rated M for language and sexual content in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1 (Intro)

There was no denying it. The very woman that he was trying to avoid was standing right there in the flesh not even five feet away looking gorgeous as always with a long beachy dress.

"You're a hard man to track Dr. Banner, you know that?" Natasha commented as she sauntered over to the bar where he was sitting. Bruce visibly tensed as Natasha took a seat at the bar right next to him.

"Well, that's good to hear because that was the idea." He took another swig of his drink and set it down in front of him. Nat gestured to the bartender to get her attention.

"What happened?" She asked, concern and -was it hurt? - in her voice. Bruce rubbed the back of his neck and sighed in defeat knowing that arguing with The Widow never ended well. He tried to find the words to say as Natasha ordered herself a cocktail.

"I, uh...I guess I sort of panicked. I didn't want to run the risk of hurting anyone else."

"So you flew straight to the tropical islands full of tourists." Natasha commented sarcastically. Bruce chuckled at the comment. The other guy wouldn't be set off unless provoked and he didn't see that happening here...that is until the woman who pushed him off a ledge showed up.

"So now what? You here to drag me back?" She turned her head to him, giving him a look that showed both her concern and pain. Bruce didn't like it when she looked like that. He looked back down at his drink, trying to find words to say. Cap's words replayed in his head about Natasha being more comfortable around him and opening up more. He constantly saw it now - ever since that time back on Barton's farm. When he learned about the graduation ceremony. It was fucked up but he sort of understood why it needed to happen. He felt like there was still so much he needed to learn about this woman.

"I didn't necessarily come to drag you back." She lifted the glass to her lips, hesitating to drink the liquid inside. "I just needed to see you." She confessed, downing the drink and letting it burn her throat as it went down. Bruce looked back up at her, almost disbelieving the words that fell from her mouth. "I..was really scared Bruce. I tried for weeks to find you but nothing was turning up and naturally, given our circumstances, I kept thinking back to the worst possible outcome." She laughed a little and looked over to him. "I guess you can't be killed that easily though, hih?" He turned away and placed his head into his hands, running his hands through his hair. He looked up in concentration, staring at nothing in particular at the wall across from him. Only one word rang in his mind.

"Why?" Natasha turned to him and opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the doctor beside her. "You don't seem to get it Natasha." He continued, his voice carrying a stern tone. "You should not be around me. I'm-" He trailed off and looked around to make sure that no one was within earshot. He leaned toward her and whispered the last part. "I'm dangerous." He sat back up and polished off what was left in his glass. Natasha turned around and leaned back on the bar.

"As true as that may be, you're not a monster Bruce; and neither is he. I trust you both...as my teammate and as my friend. You have never intentionally hurt me Bruce and I don't think you ever will."

"Yeah, intentionally." He mumbled. Natasha rolled her eyes and continued on.

"Bruce, listen, I understand that you're scared." He only scoffed at this and stared into his empty glass. "You need to understand that you don't have to do this alone, and-I, uh.." She stopped momentarily to take a breath and faced her entire body to him. He looked up at her, waiting for her to finish. "I-it's hard for me to admit - I've never really been good at this kind of stuff...an agent is not supposed to give way to emotions...much less show them to anyone." Bruce sat up straighter and turned a little more toward her. A lump formed in his throat as he tried to choke up words that didn't want to come out correctly.

"Natasha, don't-" he croaked.

"I want to be with you Bruce." She looked into his eyes and all he could do was stare back defeated. He couldn't deny that he loved this woman greatly and would go to the ends of the Earth to protect her. He wanted nothing more than to be with her and to give her everything she deserved - except he couldn't. He never would be able to. Not unless they could both go back into the past. He glanced at his hands in front of him.

"You deserve better than me. I-" he looked away, almost ashamed and at a loss for words. "I can't give you the life you deserve. It's impossible." He looked over to the bartender and nodded at her, signaling to bring yet another round.

"Or more like you can't give me the life that you _think_ that I would want." That statement tore through his chest and rang in his head. He looked up at her, pained at the cruel reality that was slated for them. Natasha sensed this and continued. "Bruce, I don't deserve much, trust me. With everything I've gone through I don't really deserve anything except for what's inevitably coming to me.." She smiled a little at her sad reality.

"Natasha don't say that."

"I'm one of the last people who has any sort of chance at a normal life, or even deserves one really, but as long as you're with me" she grabbed his hand and stroked his knuckles with her thumb "I don't care. Just being with you makes me happy and in this fucked up world that we live in..." She leaned her forehead on his hand almost mumbling her next words. "I would take that in a heartbeat." She sat up, completely embarrassed by how open and forward she was being. The two stared at each other longingly, just wanting to embrace and seal the deal at last. The bartender came over with two more drinks and set them on the bar for them. Natasha picked up her glass and stared at Bruce, waiting for him to do the same. He picked up his glass and tapped it to hers.

"Here's to rolling with it." He chimed, remembering the party at the tower. They raised their glasses and downed the liquor in one go. This was going to be one interesting ride.


	2. Chapter 2

The knife cut into her flesh. She couldn't feel anything - physically that is - but she knew it was there. She was wide awake and knew what was happening the whole time. She felt numb inside and out. There was nothing she could do but just stare at the plain white ceilings and blinding flourecent lighting that illuminated the operation room. Her mind was blank, not sure in what she should really be feeling right now. She had come to terms long ago that she would never have a normal life. Never be able to settle down. Openly have a partner, if she even could have that. And now she would never be able to have a family. She briefly considered adoption but any thought of that was wiped away when the question of security came into play. A part of her felt dead, but all of her training had taught her that that part of her was weak and unneeded. She felt she should cry. That this was something that girls and women were supposed to cry about but nothing came. When it came right down to it, she just couldn't. Not now. She felt the cold eyes of her superiors looking at her - judging her through the one way glass in the wall. It wasn't so much of a graduation ceremony as it was a test. She was always being tested. Ever since she was little. The doctor turned to her and smiled viciously at her. She made no effort to meet his gaze.

"Congratulations! You're all finished darling." The voice. She knew that voice. It was not the voice of her doctor, but another. It was Bruce. She looked up to see Dr. Banner standing there in a white lab coat. Blood covering his gloves and sleeves. His eyes were cold and angry, peering at her from just above his glasses. He set down the knife and moved closer to her. "How do you feel? Numb? That's normal for someone like you." He was towering over her limp form. "How does it feel knowing that you'll never be able to settle down and raise a family." His voice began to drip with hostile intent. Her arms began to prickle as feeling began to flood back over her. "You can't keep anyone safe. You're dangerous. A threat. You're nothing more than a killing machine and that's all you'll ever be!" His creepy smile grew wider and the look in his eyes grew wilder - greener. He began to double in size and his skin took on its greenish hue, his clothes ripping as the other one emerged. "You'll kill me because you're scared. You know that you can't protect me Black Widow!" Natasha's eyes filled with fear. She tried to move but could only flip onto the floor and stare at the giant green mutant towering above her. He let out a roar and focused his attention on her. He lifted his enormous fists in the air, eyes still aimed on his prey. She looked down and silently screamed into the cold tile floor.

Natasha woke with a start, sitting up quickly and weilding the knife that she always slept with under a pillow. Her breathing was ragged and sweat cascaded down her smooth skin. She looked around her dark hotel room fearing that someone, or even something might be watching her. Nothing. She lowered her arms and set the knife on the bedside table, trying to slow her breathing and rapid heartbeat. She swallowed visibly and moved to get up. Her steps were sloppy and uncoordinated as the vivid images still affected her body. This paralyzing fear was too controlling. It showed weakness and she could not afford to be weak. But still, that dream - that nightmare was by far the worst she'd ever experienced - even worse than the one shown to her by Maximoff girl.

She made her way to the small bathroom and flipped on the light. She flinched and turned away from the blinding light source. She blinked a few times and let her eyes adjust. Not just to the light, but also to the horrible reflection in the mirror. She stared daggers at the person in front of her. She was disgusted by her own face. Not it's appearance, but what lay beneath the facade that she was forced to keep up. A monster worse than any out there. She turned away from the mirror and turned on the shower, rotating the knob to the coldest setting it had. She shed her silk nightgown and underwear and stepped into the icy spray. The freezing water ran down her body, sending violent shivers throughout her. She closed her eyes and saw the dream again. The words replayed in her head. _You know that you can't protect me Black Widow!_ She punched the shower wall - hard - cussing in Russian under her breath out of both the physical and emotional pain. She let out a small choked sob, still unable to cry properly like a normal person. It had been a while since she cried. She couldn't recall the last time she had. She was convinced that it showed weakness and weakness was intolerable. _Black Widow._ He had called her by her code name. Another wave of violent shivers wracked her body. She slid down in the tub and curled up, hugging her knees to her chest. The water was numbing. Her thoughts slowly began to dissipate and she closed her eyes. She didn't know how long she was like that but the next thing she knew Bruce was yelling her name - her _actual_ name - and scooping her out of the shower, covering her with a towel and a robe as he did so. He set her back down on the bed and worked to restoring heat back in her body. He hugged her close and rubbed her arms and back, calling her name repeatedly as he did so. She stared at the room before her. Her mind was blank, but she could vaguely feel a source of warmth around her. She blinked a couple of times. It was getting hard too breathe and she felt constricted. She looked around and realized that Bruce was holding her, hugging her, rambling into her ear.

"Natasha! Nat say something!" He cradled her close to his body, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Nat, come on this isn't good for me you know that." He pleaded. Her chest began to rise more noticibly and her heartbeat quickened. Her breath audibly escaped from her lips and she turned her head to Bruce who was still rambling her name over and over again.

"Bruce." He stopped suddenly, looking up at her. Relief flooded his body and he visibly relaxed some, but not much. He then engulfed her in a bone crushing hug.

"Nat! What the hell!? What happened? I-I.." He looked frantic. Too stressed for comfort. Natasha could feel his rapid heartbeat and noticed his green shaded eyes.

"Bruce. Bruce stop." He stopped and looked at her. She pulled the robe over her a little more. "You need to calm down. Your heartbeat is way too fast. You're nearly there." He let out a breath and turned to face the window, tightly shutting his eyes. Natasha held out her hand to him. He opened his eyes, looking at her hand and then at her. He let out a small sigh and put up his hand, mimicking her. She placed her hand palm up, leading him to follow. She laid her palm on his and moved to trace the veins along his forearm, following down into his palm hesitating a little before she removed her hand.

"The sun's gettin' real low." She chuckled softly keeping her eyes down. Bruce let out a breath and dropped his hand to his side.

"Natasha what the hell?" He looked at her, half concerned, half scolding. She looked away, feeling guilty about her stupid actions. She had let this get to her too much and practically lost conciousness because of it. She pulled a blanket around her to keep in her newfound body heat. Bruce saw that she had no intention to explain herself so he took the lead.

"Here I was, just sitting in bed reading and all of a sudden I heard your shower turn on and after that a loud bang against the wall. What is going on Natasha, what happened?" He tried to look into her eyes but for some reason she was avoiding him. She couldn't tell him about the dream. It would upset him too much. The last thing she wanted was for Him to come out. "You've gotta work with me Natasha. What were you doing? You were ice cold, your lips were blue! Why did you do that?" She looked down at her hands and decided that she should at least give him some type of response before he got too stressed out again.

"I just had a nightmare is all. About the graduation ceremony that I told you about. I was upset and went to take a cold shower to shake it off. I also punched the wall. I probably hurt the wall more than me, but I'm fine." Bruce looked defeated. He felt like there was more but decided not to push it. This was Natasha after all. The woman kept her emotions locked up like the money in a national bank. He reached over and pulled her onto his lap again, holding her close.

"Do you want me to stay in here tonight? I probably won't get much sleep anyways."

"No, no." She sat up in his arms and looked at him. "I'll be fine, I promise." The truth was that she actually was a little scared to be with him at the moment. Not only because it was the man who had a raging monster inside of him, but also because trying to come to terms with these new emotions and having a love interest in her life was all new and scary to her. What scared her the most though was losing it all. Being in her profession was all too easy to have the ones around her killed. It's all why Clint kept his family and farmhouse a secret. She moved to get up but was held down by a pair of strong hands.

"Are you sure you're ok?" He searched her eyes for any sort of distress but once again Natasha had gone on lockdown. She was impossible to read sometimes.

"Yeah I'm fine." She pulled him up with her and walked hime over to the door. "Goodnight Bruce." She kissed his cheek and showed him out.

"Yeah, goodnight." Bruce turned around and walked a few feet to the adjoining room. He looked back once more at her before he slipped inside of the doorway and was gone. Natasha closed her door a few seconds after his and slid down, burrying her head in her hands. A few feet away Banner was in his room doing the same thing. They knew that they said that they were going to roll with it, but that was proving harder than either of them had originally anticipated.

 _ **Wow I can't believe how much attention this story is actually getting! You guys are all awesome thank you so much for the support :) I'll try to update as much as possible, but between two jobs it can get difficult. Anyways, stay awesome my friends!**_


	3. Chapter 3

"You better hope Fury doesn't whoop your ass for wrecking the jet." Natasha scoffed as she loaded the luggage in the overhead compartment of the plane. Bruce took his seat and laughed half heartedly at the comment, hardly threatened by it.

"Oh please. He'd probably be to nervous about putting everything else S.H.I.E.L.D has at risk of the other guy throwing a tantrum." Natasha laughed and took the seat next to Bruce.

"Yeah, that may be true. But still, he won't be very happy." She smiled and looked ahead at the rows in front of her. It had been a while since she took a normal plane under, well, semi-normal circumstances. It was kind of relaxing despite the lack of room it offered compared to the jets that she'd grown so accustomed to. She kind of worried for Banner's sake though, since he was already nervous enough when it came to flying in the jets. He pulled his ipod out of his pocket and placed his Beats over his ears, tuning into the relaxing classical tracks that soothingly seeped through the speakers. Natasha gave a small smile and looked down at his hand which was placed on the armrest in between them. She slowly reached over and took his hand, stroking the back of it in small circles. It was something she had done to him before and it seemed to keep him relaxed. He glanced her way and smiled. He appreciated the small things that she did to keep him calm.

The piercing cry of a baby suddenly ripped Natasha out of the serene state that she was in. A mother carrying her child walked down the aisle and sat in the seats across from them. The mother made every attempt to calm the infant but still it cried on. Natasha's eyes were fixed on the baby. She stared in both awe and horror at the shrieking thing. Suddenly she became very aware of herself and her breathing became shallow and labored. Her heartbeat sped up and her throat became tied in a knot. The screams echoed through her head and seemed to amplify every second. She turned to face the window and shut her eyes, trying to regain a grip on her sanity. Images flashed in her head simultaneously. Her as a young child. Her training years. The graduation ceremony. Bruce. He was smiling at her and came closer. He began teasing and playing with something in her arms. She looked down at the object of his affection. It was a baby. The face was blurry but she could tell by the little curly tuft of black hair that the baby probably looked like Bruce. Suddenly another child, a girl with vibrant red hair, came darting out from behind her. Bruce chased her and snatched her up, walking back to Natasha while planting kisses all over the young girl's cheeks. This girl's face was blurred too but Natasha could hear her beautiful laughter. Bruce looked back at her and then classical music.

Natasha opened her eyes. She still faced the windows but instead of a baby's cry she heard the smooth and soothing melody of a piano. She turned around to see that Bruce was looking at her, his noise canceling headphones now adorning her head. His face was suddenly overcome with concern. He lifted his free hand up and gingerly wiped her cheeks. She could feel moisture around her eyes and her cheeks were cold. _Am-Am I crying?_ Bruce leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead. She looked down and realized that she had been squeezing his hand tightly as a reaction to the baby stimulus. She let go immediately, regretting that she had let herself be so bothered by this. She turned to face the front but was pulled to the side by her partner - she guessed that they were officially dating now - who wrapped his arm around her and let her lay her head on his shoulder. She thought back to the images. How happy he looked and how...great it felt having a family like that. It was too cruel being shown something thast could never actually be. Natasha wiped at her bottom lashes and closed her eyes. Soon after she felt her stomach growl violently.

"Food would be amazing right now." She whispered, not wanting to unintentionally yell due to the music. Bruce looked down and smiled, nodding in agreement. Natasha smiled, feeling his nod. "I kind of want a milkshake."

They had a short layover and Natasha decided to do some shopping while Bruce went and picked up some food for them. She made her way through the shops, admiring little things here and there. It wasn't until she came to the electronics shop that she had given in and bought something that would be convenient for the both of them.

They sat at a table near the gate that they'd be departing from grazing on a couple cheeseburgers from the BBQ restaurant located in the terminal. Natasha slipped a fry in her mouth and Bruce set down his burger, kind of eager to confront Natasha about the mishap that happened on the plane.

"Are you sure you're ok? What happened..I mean, on the-" He gestured toward the gates where planes were sitting just outside, "The plane?" Natasha looked up from her milkshake. She released the straw and stared at her basket of half eaten food.

"I guess I just freaked out a little. Babies can be a bit of a...touchy subject for me." Bruce nodded and looked away at nothing in particular. Natasha laughed a little. "I didn't even know that I was still capable of crying." Bruce looked back to her. He played with a fry in his basket, spreading the ketchup around the paper lining.

"It's natural human reaction when things become too overwhelming." He shoved the fry in his mouth and swallowed. "That was the first time I saw you cry."

"Probably won't be the last if I don't get my act together." Natasha mumbled and popped another fry in her mouth after thouroughly coating it in ranch.

"Let's just hope that the next time you cry, they'll be tears of joy."

"Who said I'd let you see me cry again?" Natasha smiled weakly and continued eating. Bruce really wished that he could make her cry tears of joy, but with the professions that both of them had chosen, it was a little more complicated.

A couple hours later and they were back on the plane. Bruce pulled out his ipod again and Natasha took it from his hands. He gave her a puzzled look and she just smirked at him. She pulled her purse onto her lap and retrieved the items she had purchased - some earbuds and a splitter. She plugged in the splitter and then attached her earbuds and Bruce's Beats headphones. Now they both didn't have to worry about having a meltdown on the plane.

Bruce actually couldn't wait to get home. He had been up a while last night thinking and had an idea that he hoped could be a solution to at least one of his problems. All he needed was a little help from his good friend Tony Stark.

 _ **Yeah I'm sorry it's pretty short :/ I suck at writing long chapters. This was more of a transition/fluff chapter anyways. I'll work on writing longer chapters I promise!**_


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